Dangan Ronpa: Hello, Anticipation Space Station!
by I-Fallen-Angel-I
Summary: Fifteen gifted students were lucky enough to be enrolled in one of the most prestigious high schools in Japan. Hopes were held high, but despair ensues as they suddenly find themselves in a highly unlikely situation, orbiting planet Earth at 17,000 miles per hour.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, everyone. This is my own Dangan Ronpa story. One of my best friends (a grammar Nazi) helped me create the plot for this. He was the one that gave me the idea for the setting.**

**I hope that you enjoy it!**

* * *

_"In space, no one can hear you scream."_

* * *

My name is Azuma Shirane, and I am the Super High-School Level Astronaut.

At least, that's what it said on my acceptance letter.

Standing outside of Hope's Peak Academy, I feel myself smile. I couldn't believe that after all of that time I spent studying at my old school, I would be admitted into one of the world's most prestigious schools.

I had been studying Astro Physics and stuff like that, even though I really didn't want to work in that line of work once I left school. I seemed to have a knack for it, though, and I was admitted to it under those subjects.

I was surprised when I got the letter. My parents were proud of me, very proud. They had always hoped that their only child would be seen as a prodigy.

I walk through the open gates, excited. I had already searched stuff up about the other students. I couldn't find much about them. I only know a few of their Super High-School Levels. There's a Painter, Gamer, Scientist...

Thinking about it now, I can't even believe that I was accepted. I'm now a _top_ student. One of the best, actually, and I really couldn't believe it.

I take my first step through the doors of the academy, ducking slightly to fit under the door. I was so filled with hope, I thought that it had to be a dream.

When I think back on it, I wish that it _was_ a dream.

After taking my first step, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and everything went black.

* * *

Slowly, everything starts to come back into focus. I can hear voices around me. Many voices. Something wet is being dabbed into the back of my head, bringing severe pain with each dab.

I try to speak, but my head is so fuzzy that I can't hear what I'm saying. "Wh... Wha..?"

"Oh, hey," the voice sounds surprisingly loud, and I wince. "You must have cut your head or something when you passed out. I'm trying to stop the bleeding."

I... passed out?

Oh, right. That sharp-pain-and-everything-going-black thing. I must have just hit my head on the door or something as I straightened up.

So, I'm still in the academy? My eyes slowly open, and I frown at my surroundings. They're not what I envisioned the academy to look like.

The walls, floor and ceiling are made from dark metal. Bright, multi-coloured lights are lighting up the room.

"Where... are we?" I try to look at the person. He has bright red hair and sea green eyes, partially covered by his long fringe. He's putting something on the back of my head.

"I have absolutely no clue." He pats the thing onto my head, and sits back. Pink blood is staining his shirt.

I reach back, and feel the soft texture of a bandage.

The boy gets to his feet, and holds out a hand, obviously to help me up. I take it, and carefully get to my feet.

Around us, about fifteen other people are hanging around, talking in little groups. They all look so different. I look down at my plain orange hoodie, and nervously tug on my collar.

The room is definitely weird, with shutters over one wall and little cameras watching us. I'm assuming that they're for security reasons, but I can't help but feel nervous around them.

Before I can say anything, a noise grasps my attention.

It sounds like someone tapping on a microphone.

"Ahk- Ahk- Mic check, mic check!"

I whirl around, the large room spinning from my dizziness, and someone is standing on the podium. The lighting above is dim, so I can barely see them.

"Ahk- Ahk- You guys can hear me, right?"

The lights turn on, bright, and I see the face that I would later never want to see again.

A bear, half black and half white, is standing on it. It's clutching a microphone in it's paw, and half of it's face is pulled up into a sinister grin.

I feel myself recoil. Stuffed toys have always freaked me out.

"N'aw! It's a teddy bear!" A girl in a pink dress claps her hands together, excitement running across her face.

"I'm not a teddy bear! I'm Monokuma!"

One of the boys, the one with a familiar red-and-white hat, frowns. "Mono... who..?"

"Mo-no-ku-ma. Monokuma! I am the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy!"

...What?

"You're... our headmaster?!" The boy with red hair looks at him, bewildered.

"Yes! But right now, I'm more like your captain!"

...Captain?

"Our what?"

"Captain! Must I spell that out for you, too?" Monokuma tuts. "Jeez, you guys must be really stupid!"

"Why captain, of all words?" The pink haired girl asks, her pink eyes flashing warily.

"Well, we're in a space ship, so a principal wouldn't work here!"

...

...What?

My head is reeling. This is really weird.

"Why... are we here, instead of being in the academy?" A hooded boy asks, almost with difficulty.

"'Cause a space ship of mutual killing sounds a lot more interesting than a school of mutual killing!"


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back with the next chapter!**

**To _HopeorDespair_, this is my own story. I was thinking of making it into a SYOC, but I was worried that people wouldn't join it or I'd screw up somehow. A few of the characters are based off my friends, though. Thanks for your review!  
**

* * *

"Mutual k-k-killing?" I hear those words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them.

"Upupupu!" Monokuma's chuckle seems to echo in the now silent room. "Yes, you heard me right!"

...Yes, this is definitely weird.

"You're serious?" The girl with short, pink hair stares at him. Her apron is covered in paint splotches.

"Much more serious than serious!" Monokuma laughs again, like this is all a fun game.

One of the girls looks utterly horrified. "B-but, why?"

"Well, that's a secret that should be _kept_ a secret until later!"

The blonde in the blue jacket speaks up, nervously tousling his hair. "How?"

"Well... Beatingstabbingclubbingbeheadingburningsuffocating stranglingslaughteringvoodoocursing… The method doesn't really matter. Surely you should all know what it is! You're high-school students!"

"Y-yes, but-"

"Anyway!" Monokuma interrupts him, waggling his paw. "With that out of the way, I should explain the rules!" How can Monokuma talk about people_ dying_, and act so nonchalant at the same time?!

This has to be fake. I've seen enough YouTube to know that.

"The full list of rules are on your ElectroiD cards-!"

"Our what?"

"ElectroiD cards! They're in your pockets!"

I pat the pockets of my hoodie and jeans, and pull it out. It's small and blue, and it seems to be quivering slightly in my hand.

Rather than protesting, I decide to listen up.

"Your real name will appear on it, along with all of your information, so don't lose it or get it stolen!" He waggles his paw again. I shudder to think of what he knows about me.

"Now, if you'd start it up and open the rules tab..." I press a button on the side of it, and my full name flashes across it. I shakily tap on 'Rules'.

"To start off, you are to stay and live on this space ship indefinitely! Aka, forever!" Monokuma throws his hands up, and confetti falls around him. "Won't that be fun?"

"_No_." The girl with the side ponytail glares at him, and I feel the need to run and hide.

"The time between 10pm and 7am is called 'Night Time'. Certain areas are off-limits during this period of time, so be sure to get everything done during 'Day Time'! Also, there is no water during Night Time, so don't try to turn on a tap or anything during that time!" This is making my head spin. Why would he need to designate times like that?

"Sleep is only permitted in your rooms! Deliberately sleeping outside of your room will result in punishment!"

The hooded boy speaks up. "What kind of punishment?"

"A good old fashioned punishment called execution!"

...An execution... for _sleeping_?

Yes, this has to be fake.

"You may investigate freely, as in, you may go into any room! Some areas are still off-limits, however! You can tell because their entrances will be shuttered or locked."

"Violence against me, Monokuma, your lovable captain, is forbidden~ Destruction of surveillance cameras are also prohibited!" Cameras?

Oh, right, the cameras. I glance up at them, and flinch slightly when I see one looking directly at me.

I quickly turn back to look at Monokuma, just as he finishes talking about something called 'graduation'.

His red eye seems to twinkle slightly. "That is all for now. Good-bye!" The podium that he's standing on starts to slide into the ground, and soon disappears, leaving us in a heavy silence.

The girl with the messy ponytail breaks the silence, shaking her head. "This is insane."

"Well, yeah," The blonde in the blue jacket scratches his stubble. "Being trapped in space isn't exactly a common thing to happen."

The boy with glasses nervously wrings his hands. "W-we should probably go and find a way out, or something..."

People agree, and move towards the door.

"Wait!" I must have spoken too loudly, because basically everyone looks at me. Feeling slightly self-conscious, I nervously lick my lips. "I... I don't know anyone yet. I only just woke up."

"...We may as well introduce ourselves again." The girl with the messy ponytail sighs, and rubs the side of her head. I notice that her hands are wrapped in bandages. "What's your name?"

"Azumamaro Shirane, but everyone calls me Azu-"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm Eri Shintaro, the Super High-School Level Assassin."

...Assassin?

Like the so-called Assassin that she is, she's decked out in dark clothes. A chain is wrapped around her waist.

"I'm going to find a way off this stupid ship." And with that, Eri leaves.

The red-haired boy from before smiles at me. "I'm Jakuchu Ajibana, or Jack. I'm the Super High-School Level Snowboarder, apparently."

Is snowboarding even school subject? Unlike the snowboarder that he should be, he's only wearing a neat white shirt, now stained pink by my blood, and a light jacket. His pants and shoes are smart and dark.

He leaves the room, and the girl in the neon jacket practically bounds towards me, the boy in the glasses in tow. "I'm Kasumi Hisakawa! I'm the Super High-School Level Gamer!"

Before I can say anything, she pushes the boy forwards. Her blue eyes glitter with excitement. "This is Amane Hachiobei, the Super High-School Level Sketcher!" I note his dark-green jacket and forest-green scarf.

"H-hi-" He says, before he's whisked off by Kasumi.

The girl in the pink dress steps forwards, followed by the short boy with the red-and-white cap. "I'm Rubi, Rubi Chikanatsu, and I'm the Super High-School Level Cheerleader."

"I'm Tokimune Hideyoshi, the Super High-School Level Pokemon Trainer." No wonder why I recognized that hat. It has a Pokeball on it.

My forehead creases as they walk away. It's going to be impossible to remember all of these names.

A boy with chestnut brown hair and, by the looks of it, heterochromia, walks up to me. One of his eyes are red, and the other is hazel, but they're both frighteningly huge.

"I'm Chiba Matsumara. Nice to meet 'cha." He reaches towards me, and holds my face in his hands. "Y'know, you'd make a great Ayumu Aikawa cosplay."

"Ehh?" I try to pull away from him.

"I mean, you're tall, you have the right kinda face." He frowns, thinking hard.

The girl with the pink hair reaches us, and grabs his shoulder, pulling him away from me. He flails slightly as he nearly falls over. "Sorry, Chiba's a little insane. I'm Koizumi, Ema Koizumi. I'm the Super High-School Level Painter." That would explain her apron.

Chiba is still struggling against her hold. "Uh," my forehead creases as I watch him. "What's his Super High-School Level?"

"Cosplayer. Hence is why he immediately found a character that would suit you."

"Why are you hanging out with him?"

She smiles at me sweetly. "I recognized him from middle school. We were sort of friends."

She hauls him away, Chiba yelling "Olivia! You'd make a killer Olivia!" at her. Two more people approach me, the white-blonde boy and a girl with long, brown hair and grey-blue eyes. She looks utterly terrified, but she's giggling at something the white-haired boy is saying.

The girl manages to compose herself long enough for introductions. "Um, hi. I'm Riza Murakami, but you can call me Ri. I'm the Super High-School Level Blogger."

"Blogger?"

"Yeah, like, on Tumblr and stuff." She smiles.

...What does that have to do with high-school? A lot of these Super High-School Level's are really weird.

The white-blonde boy speaks up. "I'm Fujimoto Atsushi, the Super High-School Level Scientist!" He cheerfully smiles at me, and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his lab coat.

I look at him curiously. "Scientist as in the scientist that knows physics?"

"Any kind of scientist, bro!"

"Awesome. I'm good at physics."

"Then I have a feeling that we're gonna be friends!"

I stare at him as he and Ri leave, animatedly chatting again.

The blonde in the blue jacket approaches me. "I'm Akihiko Kyousuke, the Super High-School Level Guitarist. Call me Aki, though. Everyone does." He looks nervous.

"...Doesn't your name mean shining prince?"

He nervously chuckles, and scratches his stubble. "Yeah."

That name sounds familiar. Very familiar.

One of the girls, a girl with long, spiky hair and red goggles, bounds up to me. She grins, and I'm startled to see that her teeth are razor sharp. "I'm Yumi, Yumi Hasegawa. Nice to meet you, Shirane!"

"What's your Super High-School Level?"

"Engineer!" I wasn't expecting her Super High-School Level to be _that_. Then again, she's wearing bright red goggles which match her eyes perfectly, and her belt has a lot of slots on it, obviously for holding tools.

She skips away, and Aki walks out after her.

I find myself left alone with the last two people, a girl with flaming red hair and the hooded boy. The girl catches my eye, and smirks at me. I walk up to her.

"'Sup?" Her orange eyes glitter, and she sticks her hand out, obviously asking for a handshake. "I'm Sera Hotaru, the Super High-School Level Pyro."

I carefully shake it, scared that it'll become englufed in flames. "Are the puns in your name deliberate?"

"Nope!" She breaks the handshake, and flicks her red hair back. "I'll talk to you later!"

She leaves the room, leaving me with the hooded boy.

I look up at the last person, and I notice that I'd mistaken his face being completely covered by the hood. The collar of it is covering the bottom half of his face, and he's simply pulled down his hood so that the rest is covered.

I approach him, feeling a slight sense of unease flicker through me. He's turned towards the podium still, almost blankly.

"Um, hello," I say, and his head whips around to look at me.

"...Hello." He relaxes slightly, and turns around to face me. Before I can do anything, he speaks. "I'm guessing that you'll want my name. My real name is rather complex, so, please, just call me Nightshade."

...Right?

I glance at the door, and bite my lip, thinking. "Did you want to help me search this ship? I mean, since we're allowed to, we may as well."

To tell you the truth, I didn't want to walk around by myself. I had a very unsettled feeling about the whole thing.

Nightshade crosses his arms, and stays silent for a moment. "Sure."

I let out a sigh of relief. I really didn't want to investigate alone, especially since it's apparently a space ship of mutual killing."Okay, thanks. Let's go."

Almost shakily, I make my way to the door. It smoothly slides open, and I finally see a taste of our "new world".

The outside hall is spacious, but mostly empty. Metal doors lining the hall lead to other rooms, a few of them open, and further down the hallway is a somewhat narrower hallway, but I can't see anything past there because the blue lights are too dim.

"Where should we start?" Nightshade's voice snaps me back into reality. I glance at him, and scratch my head.

"How about..." I can hear voices to the right of me. "We go left, and then see what's down that hallway?"

He nods, and heads in that direction. I hurry to catch up with him, still looking around.

The lights above are reflecting off the dark metal, and the eyes of the cameras watching us flash. I nervously bite my lip as I look at one.

I hear the sound of a knob turning, and when I look up, Nightshade's walking into a room with the words 'CAFETERIA' printed on it. I follow him into it.

Inside, the walls are covered in more dark metal, and another large window, I think, is covered with metal plates. A long table is in the middle, bolted to the floor, and chairs are set around the table. One of the girls from before, Rubi (I think), walks out of a door at the end of the room and takes a seat, smoothing her pink dress.

She glances up as me and Nightshade walk past her. "Hi, guys."

"Hello," I glance at the door. "What's in there?"

"A kitchen."

I look at the door wildly. "A kitchen? Aren't we in a space station?" or apparently, at least.

"Yeah. I thought that it was strange, too." She starts to tie her blonde hair back with a pink ribbon

I frown, heading into the kitchen, Nightshade tailing after me.

* * *

**I'll introduce a lot more rooms in the next chapter, and it should be longer, too. If you spot anything wrong with the chapter, please tell me about it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I keep forgetting to add disclaimers. I really should, so that I don't get taken to court or anything ;-; I'll start to add them to each chapter that I post.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dangan Ronpa, any the characters from it, and I'm not a member of Project Zetsubou (I'd like to be a member, though)**

**By the way, this story has had five reviews, six followers and three favourites so far.**

**Oh my God. *Has a heart attack* I didn't even expect to get _one _for any of those. Thank you so much!**

* * *

The kitchen is decked out with more dark metal. Sera Hotaru is opening all of the cupboards, searching them, and Tokimune has the refrigerator opened. He keeps pulling out cans of stuff. It's all soup, I think.

The door closes behind us with a bang, and Tokimune jumps a mile, knocking the cans to the floor. Sera grins at us.

"'Sup, Azumamaro, Nightshade?" She asks, returning to her search. Lockie crouches to pick up the cans, his face flushed.

"I told you, just call me Azu-" I cut myself off as she ignores me, returning to her search.

Almost sullenly, I walk across the room to help Tokimune. "Did we startle you?" I ask him, picking up cans of soup and putting them away.

"Y-yeah," he nervously smiles. "I'm just kind of jumpy, that's all."

"Of course you would be," Nightshade mumbles, wandering into what looks to be a pantry.

Tokimune hastily shoves the cans back into the fridge, the plastic pokeballs hanging from his belt clicking together, and he ducks out of the kitchen.

"Y'know..." Sera closes one of the cupboards with a slight bang. "This place isn't that bad. I mean, we have running water, clean rooms, stuff like that."

I raise my eyebrows. "Running water?"

"Yep. I tested the taps. " She wrinkles her nose in disgust, and her skirt whips around as she turns, searching one of the drawers.

To test what she said, I turn one of the taps. Water gushes out of the spout. I quickly turn it off.

That's... advanced. I thought that on space shuttles, there was no running water. I poke my head into the pantry, and I'm surprised by how spacious it is.

Nightshade is holding a packet of what looks like instant noodles, and he looks like he's reading the back. I notice that the sleeves of his hoodie are long, long enough to cover his hands.

"...Ready to go?" I ask, and he nods, putting the packet back.

* * *

Once outside of the "cafeteria", we immediately head to the right, towards the darker hall.

Once my eyes adjust to the darkness, I notice that doors line the metal walls. I squint to read the nameplates.

The one closest to me reads 'AKIHIKO'. I walk up to the next one. 'SERA'. Across the hall, the nameplate reads 'EMA'.

"I'm guessing that this is a dormitory area or something?" I tap one of the nameplates. It reads 'RIZA'.

Nightshade nods, wandering up the hallway.

I run to catch up with him. "Hey, what's your Super High-School Level? I never asked you."

He ignores me, stopping in front of one of the doors. I read the words 'NIGHTSHADE' printed on the nameplate. "This is your room?"

"Apparently." He shoves his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. He stays silent for a moment, before suddenly speaking. "You know, I sleep during the day."

"Eh?"

He stays silent, and pulls out his covered hands. He's holding his ElectroiD.

Before I can react, he swipes his ElectroiD through something next to the door, and it unlocks with a click. He opens it, and the door shuts behind him with a snap, along with a mumbled "bye".

I stand there for a moment, surprised.

"What a weird guy..." I start walking down the hallway again. Two doors away from Nightshade's, I find my own room.

I pull out my ElectroiD. It glows softly, emitting a blue light. I swipe it through a slot near the door, and it unlocks. It creakily opens, and I slip inside, shutting the door behind me. I hear a soft click as it automatically locks.

My room is a bit on the small side, but a lot more brighter and friendlier than the hall outside. Half of a bunk bed is against the wall, a desk and chair underneath it. A door, which I'm assuming leads to a bathroom, is opposite it.

Other than that and a few iron-plated windows, it's empty.

Feeling a slight sense of deja-vu, I take a step onto the carpeted flooring. With a slight sigh of relief, I wander around my new "room".

It's actually kind of nice. The other door did lead to a bathroom, with my own shower and stuff. There's a mirror on the wall, and I make a face when I see that the back of my head is still covered in pink, with a large piece of gauze covering the wound.

How the heck did I even get that? Was it from getting hit over the head?

I wrinkle my nose slightly at the memory, and carefully wash most of the blood out. I tweak my ahoge before leaving, easily unlocking the door and heading back out into the hallway.

I walk down to the end of the hallway, and there's three doors. To the left and right are what look like public bathrooms, and directly ahead of me are a set plain metal doors, with a bunch of buttons next to them. It looks like an elevator.

Chiba's playing with the door to the men's bathroom, swinging it so that it squeaks, and is seemingly oblivious to the fact that there is a huge gun attached to the roof, near the door. There's actually two, because a second one is above the door to the women's bathroom.

"Ch-Chiba" I look at him, mortified, as I try to hide myself from the guns' line of vision. "Did you notice that there's a _gun_ above your head?"

"Yep," he continues with his annoying squeaking, his red-and-hazel eyes wide. "Monokuma told me that it's for safety, to make sure that none of the guys walk into the girls bathroom, and vice versa."

"R-right." I'm never going into those bathrooms. Ever. "Wait, what? Monokuma spoke to you?"

"Yep." Squeak, squeak.

"_When?_"

"Like, just before. Ema was with me when he appeared. He told us 'bout the guns, and then disappeared. Hey, why'd you stop me?" The last part was directed at me as I grab his arm, the annoying squeaking momentarily overcoming my fear of getting shot, and the sound ceases.

* * *

After persuading Chiba to come with me, instead of chancing himself with the gun by continuing his 'game', we walk back down the hallway. A few of the other teenagers are there. Kasumi and Amane are sprawled on the floor outside of one of the rooms, talking about something, with Alex's notepad on his lap as he sketches on it. Aki is leaning against the wall, watching the two with mild interest.

"Have you seen these rooms yet?" I ask Chiba, opening a door labelled 'LIBRARY'.

"Nope," he follows closely after me, "I kinda just stayed near the bathroom, so Ema went on without me."

The reading room has shelves everywhere, and a few uncomfortable-looking couches. Strangely enough, it has no books or anything like that anywhere. All of the shelves are empty.

Despite the emptiness, Ema and Yumi are searching the shelves. Yumi even starts to pull apart the couches, her red goggles flashing in the light.

Ema turns, and passes us as she leaves. She pauses for a moment. "I'm going to find the others, and we're going to meet up in the cafeteria in ten minutes. Is that okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Chiba," Ema glances at him. "If it doesn't bother you, could you help me?"

He nods, and leaves with her. I feel myself frown.

Unsure of what to do, I lightly sit on one of the mangled couches

Yumi completely ignores me, and she starts towards a TV mounted on the wall.

"No, wait, stop!"

I let out a loud yelp as Monokuma suddenly appears next to Holly, and he practically tackles her leg.

"Hey, what?! Let go of me!" She stumbles, and falls. She tries to kick him off, but Monokuma still manages to hold on.

"I added to the rule! No destruction of the cameras,_ or_ the televisions!" He jumps off her, and as quickly as he appeared, he disappears again, jumping down a slot that appeared in the floor. It quickly covers itself again afterwards.

Yumi sits up and stares at where he disappeared through. "What the _hell_?"

"I have no clue." I jump back to my feet, and hold out a hand to help her up. "We should go to the cafeteria now."

She nods, and takes my hand. I pull her up, and we swiftly leave the room.

There's another door, next to the library. I'll have to investigate that room later.

We're nearly the first ones in the cafeteria. Kasumi, Amane and Aki are sitting at the table. Alex is quietly drawing, the pencil scratching the only sound in the otherwise empty room

Me and Yumi take a seat. I impatiently tap my foot, watching the door as people slowly trickle in.

Finally, almost everyone is here, and Ema takes a seat at the head of the table.

She clears her throat, "I thought that we should all meet up, just to talk about this... situation. I couldn't find Nightshade, so we'll have to do this without him."

"He's weird," Rubi says, her blonde eyebrows knitting together.

"Very perspective of you." Jack says, almost nodding off on the table. His red hair has fallen over his face.

Ema looks at them dismissively. "I only started this so that we could talk about _being on a space ship_, not to talk about our fellow... crew mates."

Eri smirks, her boot-covered feet resting on the table. "It was a good idea to hold this meeting. I'll start the ball rolling. I think that it's completely fake."

"Well..." Amane pipes up, "there's a chance that it _could_ be real."

"Yeah, and my hair's blue," Fujimoto says sarcastically. "It can't be real. It's way too far-fetched."

Ri nods, folding her hands in her lap. "I mean, the thought of a space-ship of mutual killing..."

"...Has only happened in sci-fi movies?" Chiba fills in with, his voice muffled from having his face pressed against the table.

She nods. "That space thing could have been fake, too. I mean, he just _said_ it. He didn't show us or anything"

"Yeah," Kasumi says, twirling her brown hair, "Monokuma's probably a robot, too. I mean, Japan can easily make them now."

Aki smiles. "So this is all just a joke?"

"Yeah, but not a very funny one..." Tokimune mumbles, playing with his tie.

"We'll probably all be returned to the academy after this. Maybe it's an orientation thing, to try and scare us."

As the conversation continues, my eyes wander around the room, from the TV monitor to the shiny cameras. I feel myself frown.

"It's a lot of trouble for just one prank," I say, resting my chin on the table. "I mean, there's cameras everywhere-"

"Probably to make sure that we're falling for it." Sera interrupts with.

My forehead creases as I continue. "And there's a lot of really flashy stuff, all of the rooms are kind of big, stuff like that."

Yumi nods. "Did you guys check out the kitchen? There's no fresh food, only the instant kind, the stuff that doesn't go off. It's like we're expected to stay here for a long time."

"Yeah, and there's a bedroom for each of us," Rubi says, clipping some of her fringe back with a cat-shaped clip, "with our own bathrooms and stuff like that. It's very nice. It kind of makes me want to stay."

"But we're _not_. It's all a big joke." Ema looks annoyed.

"Yes, it could be a joke," a new voice says, coming from the doorway. I look over, and see Nightshade standing there. His hood is still low. "But what if one of you is treating it as a reality?"

"What?" Eri says. "Where the hell have you been?"

Nightshade ignores her. "What if one of you is _thinking of murdering someone_?"

I feel my blood go cold for a moment. No one in their right mind would be taking this thing seriously.

"B-but..." Tokimune says, his green eyes fearful.

Nightshade continues, his hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie. "Like you said, we should all treat this like a joke for now. Eventually, 'Monokuma' will probably let us go anyway, especially if we bore him by doing absolutely nothing."

"You sure know a lot about this," Ema says, looking at him suspiciously. Her pink eyes are narrowed.

"I watch a lot of shows like this." Nightshade says simply, and he turns around and leaves, leaving us with that possible thought.

Suddenly, a loud ding jolts us out of our minds.

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

Monokuma's face appears on the monitor of the television. He seems to be in a control room or something. I squint at the screen, trying to see through the dim surroundings around him.

"Attention! At-ten-shi-un! It is now Night Time! Shortly, all of the water will be turned off, and the doors to the cafeteria will be locked! So, please leave the room ASAP! Over and out!" The screen goes blank.

"We should... probably leave, then." Ema says reluctantly.

The thing Nightshade said is still creeping me out.

"Look," I say, nervously biting my lip. "Maybe we should, I don't know, add out own rule or something. We shouldn't wander around at night."

Ema nods. "I was thinking about that, too. It's probably the safest method."

"Someone should tell Nightshade, then, if they see him..." Jack yawns. Our chair screech against the floor as we all stand up, and we file out.

The door outside is still bugging me. I'll search it in the morning, once it's safer.

* * *

Once I reach my room, I carefully climb onto my bed, managing to do it in only two steps, and flop onto it. Even though I can feel hunger starting to gnaw at my stomach, my eyes immediately close.

...I mean, it's all a joke, right?

* * *

**You guys should tell me who you think might die or something like that. It would be interesting to hear it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I tried really hard to write a lot for this chapter. I even got my friend to be my beta-reader, and he said that it was good. I hope that you guys like it, too!**

**I tried to replicate the free time sessions, by the way, but they might be kind of short because you basically just learn something interesting about each character. I'll try to do at least one for each character before the first trial.**

* * *

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

In my fright, I almost fall out of my loft bed.

I was suddenly woken up by an announcement. Monokuma's face appears on the screen of the wall-mounted television, startling me.

"Good morning! Guten Morgen! Buenos dias! Rise and shiiiine!"

I hurl my pillow at the screen as he says "Let's make today the best day that it can be!"

* * *

After hastily eating a breakfast of canned soup, I head over to the room. It has the word 'INFIRMARY' on the door.

I push it open. Inside, fifteen white beds line the room. Jack is hunched over something near the floor, searching through it.

He glances up as the door shuts behind me. "Hello, Azuma-kun."

"Hello." I look around the room. Other than the beds, there are stark-whitte cabinets and a mini fridge. The cabinets are stuffed with bandages and medicine.

Curious, I open the fridge, and immediately recoil. Packets of blood fill it, each neatly labelled with different blood types.

Feeling nauseous, I shut the door. I sit on one of the beds, and it loudly creaks under my weight. Jack glances up at me, and stuffs something into his pocket.

"Did anyone tell you about what happened before you woke up?" Jack asks, and sits on the bed across from me.

"Nope."

"That's silly. Someone should have told you." He pushes his fringe out of his eyes. "This is where we woke up. Well, where most of us woke up, at least."

"Really?" That explains all of the beds.

"Yes. Basically a minute after that, we were called to the Open Space, so we took you with us."

I absentmindedly touch the back of my head, and a question pops into my mind. "Wait, so if this is where we woke up, then does that mean that I was bleeding in here?"

Jack looks down, and nervously chuckles. "Uh, funny story, that is. You weren't bleeding in here."

"So… I started bleeding when you guys, what, dragged me?"

"We didn't _drag _you. We carried you. But, um, the ship kind of shook, and we accidently dropped you in our fright. I'm guessing that it was turbulence or something."

Ouch. No wonder why I split my head open. The floor's made of hard metal.

"What's odd, though, is that when I checked this morning, your blood stain was gone."

My forehead creases. I didn't notice that I'd left a bloodstain.

Jack continues. "I'm guessing that Monokuma cleaned it up. I mean, he is the 'captain', so he'd probably want to keep the station clean."

"I guess so."

A silence falls.

"Did you want to hang out for a bit?" I ask, crossing my legs. "I mean, since we're stuck here or whatever we probably don't have much to do."

He smiles. "Sure!"

* * *

So, I spent some time with Jack. I learnt that he lived in America for a few years, and the people there just called him Jack instead of Jakuchu. It kind of stuck, apparently, and now everyone calls him that. I also learnt that he didn't know why he was given the title "Super High-School Level Snowboarder". He's never competed or anything, but he is pretty good.

He also pointed out something very peculiar about the elevator, which I didn't investigate because of the guns.

I wander up the hallway, passing a stretching and jumping Rubi and a sketching Amane. Nervously glancing at the guns, I quickly walk up to the steel-grey elevator, and press one of the buttons next to it at random.

Nothing happens, so I press it again.

And I press it again, almost out of habit. I'm the kind of person that doesn't believe something is broken until someone tells me it's broken.

Which is exactly what happens.

Monokuma's voice cuts through the silence, almost giving me a heart attack.

"Oi! Don't you dare touch those buttons again! Can't you see that it's _broken_?"

"Oh, my God, you scared me so much-"

"Don't. Touch. Them. I'm getting them fixed soon! ASAP soon, that's how soon it is!"

Before I can reply, he disappears as quickly as he appeared.

When did my life have to get so weird?

* * *

For the rest of the afternoon (or what I'm assuming is the afternoon), I spent it with Rubi. She had finished her warm-ups, and she asked me on my way back to my room if I could watch her new routine.

I couldn't really say no, so I took a seat on the floor and watched it.

It was really good, actually. I felt surprisingly energised afterwards, and I rarely am.

"How did you think up that routine? It was awesome."

Rubi smiles. "I don't know. I usually just randomly think them up, and want to test them as soon as possible! I was like that as a kid, too. I would watch a lot of girls cheerleading, and I would try to copy them."

"So you liked cheerleading, even when you were a kid?" I ask, standing up.

"I didn't just like cheerleading," she does a twirl. "I loved cheerleading! I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I hit high-school!"

Wow. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy something that much for that long.

"Now, I have a question for you!" Rubi exclaims, her blonde ponytail bouncing.

"Uh, shoot."

"Have you ever considered being a cheerleader? You're super-duper tall, which would be perfect for lifting the other girls up!"

Dear God. That's one thing I can't answer.

* * *

After saying our goodbyes, I return to my room. I check the small digital clock on my desk. It's only 9:36pm, so I still have some time left before Night Time.

I climb onto my loft bed and flop down on it, snuggling under the covers.

When will this end? I mean, it's all a joke (I hope). It can only go on for so long.

Besides, making fun of death isn't very healthy, so this isn't a very funny joke.

I let out a long sigh, and close my eyes, drifting into sleep.

* * *

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

I'm startled awake by an announcement.

"Good morning, you guys! Rise and shine, and up and at 'em!"

Wait, what? It's morning?

I must have slept through the Night Time announcement. It's a wonder why I keep getting woken up by the morning announcements.

I roll out of my bed, completely forgetting about it being so high..

"Ouch!" I whacked my shoulder pretty hard when I hit the floor, the blankets wrapped around me slipping to the ground.

I get to my feet, untangling the blankets around me, and head to the cafeteria.

Ema, Chiba and Aki are here, already with bowls of food in front of them. Chiba is practically inhaling his; he's eating it so quickly. Ema pats the seat next to her, and I take it.

"What's up?" I ask, seeing her lost in thought.

"I'm trying to figure out where exactly we are," she says, stirring her soup thoughtfully. "That is, if we are actually in space."

"What do you mean?" I ask, as Kasumi and Amane walk in. Amane has his notepad tucked underneath his arm.

"She means the, uh, space shuttle," Aki says, almost spilling his soup down his jacket as he glances up.

"Mm," Ema says. "I mean, we can't be in the school. The floor is too irregularly shaped, and with how the whole thing shook, is makes it impossible for us to be on the ground. If we're on a space shuttle, maybe it would be better if we knew which one we're in."

Unless the school actually does look like this from the inside, and we were just experiencing an earthquake or something.

"I guess so." Amane disappears into the kitchen, and Kasumi hovers around the door.

"Um, Azuma?" she asks, "did you want me to get you anything to eat while I'm in the kitchen?"

"Sure, I'll have whatever you're having."

As she trots into the kitchen, Fujimoto, Riza and Tokimune walk into the cafeteria.

"G'morning!" Fujimoto says cheerfully to us, heading into the kitchen with the others.

"Since the others are coming, we should probably wait before finalizing on anything." Ema sighs, and takes a bite of her ramen.

The others slowly trickle in, and I manage to finish a large bowl of chicken noodle soup that Kasumi gave me just as Rubi walks in.

Seeing us all give her a look, she hastily sits down. "Sorry, I was having a shower!"

After a moment of silence, Ema clears her throat. "Before we talk something else, I think that we should all meet up in the morning for breakfast. We already sort of do it."

"Good plan," Ri says, "but the main problem is getting Nightshade to join us."

"He can't," I pipe up. "He sleeps during the day."

"Ah, no wonder why we can never find him during the day." Kasumi says, pressing her fingertips together.

"Does that mean that he's gone without food for, what, two days?" Chiba says, his eyes widening slightly. "I mean, the cafeteria's locked at night…"

"I'll give him some food later," I say quickly. To tell you the truth, I'm more curious about where we are.

"Anyway," Ema says, folding her arms, "we were going to discuss where exactly we are."

"We were?" Fujimoto asks, sharing a dry packet of noodles with Riza.

Aki leans back on his chair. "Yes. If we are in space, we should probably figure out what exactly we're in."

"We're in a space shuttle or something," Ema says. "Does anyone know about any space shuttles that were going to be launched or something before this happened? That's the only possible solution that I have."

I frown. There haven't really been a lot of shuttles launched lately.

Rubi interrupts my train of thought. "C'mon, Mr. Super High-School Level Astronaut, you should know it!"

Toki nods. "You know the most about space, so you should have an idea."

I feel my mouth go dry as thirteen heads turn to look at me, looking hopeful.

"Uh, well," I swallow, "the most recent one that they were launching was a Russian shuttle, but it wasn't suitable for humans. There was one that they were building right here in Japan, though, which was supposed to be very modern and human-friendly." What am I talking about? We're not in Japan (I think).

"Building?" Ema asks quizzically.

"Yeah. It was going to be launched, but there were a lot of problems with it. It was called the…"

"Was it the Anticipation Space Station?" Amane quietly asks, glancing up from his notepad. "I heard about that on the news…"

I nod. "That's the one."

"So Monokuma hijacked a half-built space shuttle and stuffed us onto it?" Eri says, playing with a blank band on her wrist. "Great."

"I doubt that it was that one, but how about we agree that it is for now?" Ema pushes her chair back as she stands up. "Either way, the meeting's over."

Everyone except for Chiba and myself file out. I head over to the kitchen to grab some food for Nightshade, and he wanders after me.

"Space is weird, isn't it?" He says, almost absentmindedly, opening the fridge.

"Yep, even though it's mainly empty." I grab a few cans of soup and head out.

* * *

After waking up a very grumpy Nightshade, and receiving a slammed door in my face in return for some food, I head back to my room.

Now what should I do? By the looks of my clock, I've got heaps of time left.

I wander out of my room, and into the so-called "Library". Eri, Riza and Fujimoto are in here. Eri is doing some weird martial art thing in the corner, but Riza and Fujimoto are talking quietly to each other, Riza giggling.

Eri glances up at me as I come in, getting out of her pose. "You. I need to talk to you."

"Eh?" She takes my arm, leading me across the room.

"Hang out with me," she says, once we reach a corner. "I'm bored."

"Uh, sure."

* * *

I hung out with Eri for quite a while. She showed me some of her techniques with running, and she even showed me how she could scale a bookshelf without shattering the panes of glass shelves.

"Where the heck did you learn this?" I ask her, as she neatly jumps down from the top of one.

"Part of it was from my uncle, and the other part was from one of my old friends. They were both good at killing people."

_Great._

"So, how many people have you… killed? I'm curious."

"Let's see…" She frowns. "That guy… Those three… I don't know, about eleven?

Eleven?!

"But that's-"

"I know what you're thinking. 'Ooh, oh no, she's killed people, she's gonna kill us all'." The sarcasm in her voice bothers me. "Yeah, I've killed people, but I had good reasons."

…I don't think that there's any good reason for taking someone's life.

* * *

After saying my goodbyes to Eri, who promptly resumes her training, I head back to my room.

It's about midday now. I still have time to kill.

I hear the intercom ring, with an annoying dinging sound. I hastily unlock it, and Aki is outside.

"Hi, could I come in? I wanna talk to you about something."

"Sure." I sidestep to let him walk in, and he wanders around my room. He picks up the pen on my desk.

"What is it?" I ask, leaning against the wall.

He drops into my desk chair, and puts the pen back. "Why did you have to mention what my name means?"

Okay, I was not expecting that question. I thought that he would start talking about guitars or something.

"Uh… It just rung a bell, that's all. I mean, isn't 'The Shining Prince' how girls refer to that rock star?"

"Uh-huh." He nervously glances down.

"Yeah, he even has the same name as y-"

Wait, what.

"You're the Shining Prince?"

When he nervously nods in reply, I feel my jaw drop slightly. This guy was _famous._ But something seems off about him.

Actually, a lot is off about him.

"Don't you have a bunch of piercings and stuff, though?" I ask, remembering how the girls spoke about him.

"I should have gotten them done by now, I guess, but I'm still too scared."

_Scared_. Here's a guy that plays to millions of fans every night, but he's scared of even getting an ear pierced.

"I wear clip-ons," he explains, seeing my confusion. "No one can tell the difference, so it doesn't really matter. I'm only worried that one might fall off if I waggle my tongue or something…"

"But… What about that rumour where, on tour, you slept with a girl at every town you went through? Wouldn't they notice?"

"…Eh?" Aki looks surprised. "EH?!"

"So that rumour isn't true?"

"Of _course _it isn't true. I'm still a-" he shuts himself up before he can make the situation worse.

Wow. I thought that this guy was hardcore, not some mellow kid that probably didn't even have the courage to ask a girl out.

"I'm sorry if I'm not what you expected." Not what I expected is a complete understatement. He's completely the opposite of what I envisioned.

* * *

Aki soon leaves, apologizing again and again.

I let out a sigh, and crawl up onto my bunk bed. I pull the covers over my head, thinking.

I feel claustrophobic under the thick cover, so I throw them back off. What am I talking about; being stuck on this floor is giving me claustrophobia.

Hopefully we won't stay here for too long.

* * *

I must have dozed off, because I'm startled awake by an announcement.

"Attention! A-ten-shi-un! Can you guys please go to the Open Space? I have a very important _announcement_ to make!"

Annoyed, I get out of my warm bed, and slide down the ladder. I glance at the clock, which now reads 9:47pm.

Why is Monokuma calling us out this late? It must be important.

I walk out into the hallway. I can see the others heading towards there, and Ema slows down to walk with me.

"What do you think this is about?" she asks, nervously biting her nails.

"I have absolutely no clue. Maybe we're finally being let out or something."

To tell you the truth, I feel very uneasy about this. I didn't really want to mention this to her, though.

"I hope so."

* * *

**I'd still like to know who you guys think will die first! I'd also love to hear some feedback, so please drop a review!**


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